Horror of 999 gaffe sees heart attack victim die

Every minute’s delay would have made it less and less likely that she would have survived

Ms Riley’s cardiac

Racquel Riley, 41, of Swinton, near Manchester, had suffered a heart attack.

A Bolton coroner said despite the delay, her chances of survival had been small.

Ms Riley was taken to Salford Royal but was pronounced dead soon after arriving.

Ambulance bosses admitted the blunder and the call-taker was suspended.

The inquest in Bolton heard how she collapsed on the sofa at her home in Blantyre Street, Swinton, while talking to her sister Laura Barrett on July 6.

Ms Barrett dialled 999 and a rapid response vehicle from the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) was sent out.

But the driver, paramedic John Henry, was sent to Blantyre Street in nearby Eccles.

It was only after two more calls from Ms Riley’s family - and one from Mr Henry to say he was struggling to find the house - that the operator realised the error and sent out another driver to the correct address.

A rapid response vehicle arrived at Ms Riley’s house at 1.51pm - 22 minutes after the first call and 14 minutes later than the target response time of eight minutes. An ambulance arrived minutes later.

A transcript of Ms Barrett’s call revealed she first told the operator the address was ‘Blantyre Street, Eccles’ before immediately correcting herself, stating ‘Blantyre Street, Swinton’.

But the operator did not correct the initial entry of the Eccles address. NWAS control manager Angela Lee said the address should have been corrected.

She said the call-taker has been suspended and an investigation was launched, while a reminder was sent out to staff about the importance of taking address details correctly.

Jonathan Thomas, a consultant at Salford Royal’s A & E who treated Ms Riley, was asked by the coroner whether the delay could have been a ‘critical period of time’.

He replied: “Yes.” But he added: “The chances of her surviving were pretty low anyway.

“Every minute’s delay would have made it less and less likely that she would have survived.” Ms Riley’s cardiac arrest is thought to have been triggered by long-term use of amphetamines, which her family say she took to help her lose weight.

Pathologist Stephen Hayes said Ms Riley’s heart bore damage consistent with long-term amphetamine use, which can lead to sudden death.

Tests found low levels of the drugs in her blood and urine.

Recording a narrative verdict, deputy coroner Alan Walsh, said Ms Riley died ‘as a consequence of the misuse of amphetamines in circumstances where there was a delay in the arrival of an ambulance and advanced life support following her cardiac arrest’.

But he said the chances of Ms Riley’s survival had been ‘small’ and that he was ‘satisfied that actions have been taken by the ambulance service’ since her death.

An ambulance service spokesman said afterwards: “A full internal investigation was carried out into this incident and we confirmed that the ambulance was dispatched to the wrong Blantyre Street which subsequently resulted in a delay.

“Important lessons have been learned and steps taken to prevent this from happening again.”